Can Any Good Come From Galilee?

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
"This is truly the Prophet."
Others said, "This is the Christ."
But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David's family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"
The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man."
So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed."
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, 
"Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?"
They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee." Then each went to his own house.

It seems that everyone has an opinion about Jesus.  They have heard what He has to say, they have seen Him command the weather, they have heard how He fed five-thousand, and yet it does not appear that they have the whole story about Him.  Some of the people declared Him to be the Messiah while others said that He could not be the Messiah because he came from Galilee.  The temple crew had sent out guards to arrest Him because they certainly did not need a Messiah from the fishmongering town of Galilee.  But the guards that they sent came back without Him and they told their masters that they had never heard a man speak as this man did.  This must have pleased the high priest and his cronies to no end.  They pointed out where Jesus came from and reminded them that the Messiah would come from the town of David, Bethlehem.  Our friend Nicodemus reminds the assembled that the law required them to have a trial before they condemned a person. 

What can we gather from this reading?  Well, we can see that Jesus has made a name for Himself.  In a time when messiahs were a dime a dozen, He seems to have risen to the top of the list.  Yet, those that were plotting against Him did not have the complete story as they were unaware of his birth city of Bethlehem.  But the game was in play and the stage was being set for the dramatic and absolutely necessary end game.  We humans would be taught that God’s plans would not be thwarted by the bad intentions of the temple management,  God would prove that love is proven by being humble and by a willingness to give all, including life itself, for our brothers and sisters.  God would show us how to reign in glory from an instrument of torture, death, and shame, the Cross.

We, humans, know that we are smart. God made us this way.  We are able to reason and to understand the world around us in a way that beasts of the field cannot. But there are times when we overthink our situation and do not allow faith to enter into our view of the world.  Sometimes we just have to accept things on faith and the ultimate triumph of good over evil is one of those things.  God reigns in great glory surrounded by the angels and the songs of the heavenly host but He also came to earth and stooped low to greet a child.  He performed great miracles on this earth and perhaps the greatest of these was that he penetrated the hearts of many who learned from His humility and shared the love He brought.

I wonder if while on the cross Jesus, just for a moment, wondered to Himself if we were worth this much trouble.  Thank God he decided that we were and still are. 

A small request...please pray, devoutly and reverently, thinking about the words as you pray them, the Prayer of St Gertrude the Great for the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  It is a short but powerful prayer that releases a thousand souls from Purgatory when it is said.  Please say this prayer for the Poor Souls.  Remember, that as they are today, someday you might be. 

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”